Marked for André Silva
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces11 Sep 2028
The mood at Kuban Holding has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad11 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces11 Sep 2028
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
20 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Match9 Sep 2028
Pobeda made Kuban Holding work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Radislav Veselovskiy, and the manager let it.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
A mark of 7.89, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Defensive actions: 13. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Sep 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market4 Sep 2028
The offer from Pobeda for Sergey Kopylov was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
A defender's goal wins it for Kuban Holding — 7.68
1 for Matvey Papulin, marked 7.68, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Match2 Sep 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Ilya Rabeshko
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
111% of the income goes out in wages at Kuban Holding
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces14 Aug 2028
The mood at Kuban Holding has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nikita Zavjalov is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match12 Aug 2028
Legion left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matvey Papulin, and the manager let it.
Market14 Aug 2028
He is 18, and nobody at Kuban Holding signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad14 Aug 2028
5 new faces, and Kuban Holding are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Market14 Aug 2028
No place for André Silva in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” André Silva has his answer from Kuban Holding; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Marked 5.33. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match29 Jul 2028
22 matches without a win for Kuban Holding
The run now stands at 22, and the questions being asked around Kuban Holding are no longer polite ones.
Market31 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Market31 Jul 2028
The name of Sergey Kopylov has come up in conversations Kuban Holding were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad31 Jul 2028
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad31 Jul 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Kuban Holding training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. André Silva is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match29 Jul 2028
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Sevastopol defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Jul 2028
No end in sight to Kuban Holding's wait for a win
20 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kuban Holding has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces17 Jul 2028
The mood at Kuban Holding has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market17 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Sergey Kopylov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Boardroom17 Jul 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Kuban Holding
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Market17 Jul 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Semyon Rogov has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market17 Jul 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Gleb Sergeev is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Jul 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mikhail Skvortsov is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Gonzalo Santacruz has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Sphamandla Shangase is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Sphamandla Shangase was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Rodrigo Vicente has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
In brief
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Boardroom
101% of the income goes out in wages at Kuban Holding
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Squad
André Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Kuban Holding now.
Market26 Jun 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kuban Holding, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Kuban Holding know it.
Squad26 Jun 2028
André Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Too much change too quickly at Kuban Holding
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Grigory Pushkin has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market5 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Squad5 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Kuban Holding training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. André Silva is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Radislav Veselovskiy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom29 May 2028
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Kuban Holding now.
Market29 May 2028
Only the photograph left for Sergey Kopylov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergey Kopylov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kuban Holding the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad29 May 2028
André Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 May 2028
Husan O'rolov damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad15 May 2028
Mfanuvela Mafuleka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 May 2028
28 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 May 2028
Husan O'rolov damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Boardroom8 May 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom8 May 2028
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces24 Apr 2028
The mood at Kuban Holding has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Kuban Holding
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Husan O'rolov damages knee ligaments — 42 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 42 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Apr 2028
Husan O'rolov damages knee ligaments — 49 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad17 Apr 2028
56 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad17 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Matvey Smirnov
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces27 Mar 2028
The mood at Kuban Holding has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
Pressure builds in the Kuban Holding boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Husan O'rolov damages knee ligaments — 70 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 70 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Mar 2028
Husan O'rolov damages knee ligaments — 84 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 84 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Fedor Starostin is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Kuban Holding training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. André Silva is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Grigory Pushkin has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kuban Holding may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market6 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Sergey Kopylov
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sergey Kopylov will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kuban Holding the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Kuban Holding now.
Squad6 Mar 2028
26 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Feb 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kuban Holding may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Mfanuvela Mafuleka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Kuban Holding are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Feb 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Kuban Holding training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. André Silva is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Jan 2028
Alexey Andreev damages knee ligaments — 29 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 29 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad24 Jan 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kuban Holding may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Kuban Holding training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Sergienko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match20 Nov 2027
12 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market22 Nov 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match20 Nov 2027
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Kuban Holding can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Kuban Holding training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Sergienko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Fedor Starostin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad22 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of André Silva
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match20 Nov 2027
Point won or two lost for Kuban Holding?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Astrakhan? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Marked 5.29, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces11 Oct 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 8 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Match9 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Kuban Holding's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kuban Holding has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Murat Yshyk, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Kuban Holding training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Sergienko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad11 Oct 2027
6 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Nikita Zavjalov has given nobody the chance.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Yegor Tinyakov is the weekend's best young player
At 19 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings11 Oct 2027
Marked 5.42, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Kuban Holding training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Sergienko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad24 May 2027
The manager makes an example of André Silva
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Mar 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kuban Holding, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Ivan Sergienko falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad1 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ivan Sergienko falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Jan 2027
23 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market25 Jan 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kuban Holding, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 Jan 2027
André Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
Wages eat 108% of everything Kuban Holding earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Loan watch25 Jan 2027
“I did not go to Spartak Nalchik to sit and watch. I want to come back to Kuban Holding and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 23 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces11 Jan 2027
Position 12, 23 points, and a crowd that arrives already braced. Relegation seasons are lost in exactly this atmosphere, and everybody who has lived through one recognises it immediately.
Match9 Jan 2027
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Mfanuvela Mafuleka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
André Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dmitry Solovjov, and the manager let it.
Market11 Jan 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kuban Holding, another week without a signature from Ilya Rabeshko.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Matvey Papulin asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
5.39 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Dec 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kuban Holding, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
18 combined actions and 5.86. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kuban Holding this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Kuban Holding training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. André Silva is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Semyon Cherepanov, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Magomednur Isaev will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market30 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Mfanuvela Mafuleka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Nikita Zavjalov has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dmitry Solovjov. 1‑0 against Nart, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad30 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
Wages eat 128% of everything Kuban Holding earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad30 Nov 2026
André Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Kuban Holding, and 5 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad30 Nov 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Matvey Papulin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match21 Nov 2026
1‑3 to Astrakhan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sphamandla Shangase, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Kuban Holding training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. André Silva is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad23 Nov 2026
5 new faces, and Kuban Holding are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kuban Holding can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Mfanuvela Mafuleka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to André Silva, and the manager let it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Kuban Holding training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ivan Sergienko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match14 Nov 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Legion came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Nov 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kuban Holding, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match7 Nov 2026
Kuban Holding are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match7 Nov 2026
Dinamo Stavropol left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Matvey Smirnov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matvey Papulin, and the manager let it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Kuban Holding training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. André Silva is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market9 Nov 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 10 of the 24 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Mfanuvela Mafuleka was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match31 Oct 2026
0‑2 to Sevastopol, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad2 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 128% of everything Kuban Holding earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad2 Nov 2026
André Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kuban Holding, another week without a signature from Matvey Papulin.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Spartak Nalchik to sit and watch. I want to come back to Kuban Holding and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.42, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 4‑3 win over Spartak Nalchik, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match24 Oct 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Kuban Holding and Spartak Nalchik, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Matvey Smirnov was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.87 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
The crowd has taken to André Silva
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
They paid twice — for the ticket and for the journey — and got a 4-3 win for it. Away support is the truest kind precisely because nothing about it is convenient.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Kuban Holding
18 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ruslan Leonov: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kuban Holding have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Artem Albastov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
14 combined actions and 7.57. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Match17 Oct 2026
Druzhba left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Arseny Medvedev
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad19 Oct 2026
André Silva falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.